Neglect a possibility

Maciu Malo
Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Chief of operations Assistant Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu said they had not ruled out the possibility of child negligence as one of the contributing factors to the shooting incident which left a boy dead.

He said police would thoroughly cover all angles during the investigation that caused the death of six-year-old Mohammed Khubeb Khan from gunshot wounds on Saturday in Sabeto.

"We have interviewed a 10-year-old boy who is alleged to have been playing with the deceased before the incident happened," he said.

"And child negligence is also another area that we have looked into as the possible cause of death.

"Once we complete questioning, we will issue a release on the issue."

Meanwhile, as billions of Muslims over the world celebrated Prophet Mohammed's birthday yesterday, the Khan family of Sabeto were deep in sorrow mourning six-year-old Khubeb.

Family member Mohammed Nasir Khan said the family did not celebrate the holiday as they were still mourning the death of the young boy.

"Today (yesterday) is a special day for all Muslims," he said.

"Also today is different from all other previous Prophet Mohammed's birthday celebration we have had.

"This is the first time we won't celebrate this special day because of the untimely death of Khubeb.

"The family members are still in shock over the incident and there is nothing to celebrate.

"In fact we are still trying to recover from this huge loss."

Mr Khan said the other painful experience was that three family members were involved in this alleged shooting.

"We also have another family member being admitted at the hospital in 14-year-old Mohammed Nabil Khan while another 10-year-old boy from Hawaii is being questioned by police for the alleged shooting," Mr Khan said.

According to Mr Khan the gun was registered to one of their relatives who is a pilot.

However, ACP Tudravu said police would complete their investigation before confirming this.